


Tangled Up In Her

by Amazingsauce



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Yarn Shop, Angst, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Musician Laura, Poet Carmilla
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 23:19:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5559667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amazingsauce/pseuds/Amazingsauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the yarn shop au that no one asked for but that I needed to exist. </p><p>Tiny gay musician Laura Hollis works at a yarn store owned by Lola Perry and frequented by scientists and frat boys alike. Broody gay poet Carmilla Karnstein needs some yarn to make a terrarium hanger. Crafty Cafe owner Danny Lawrence asks Carmilla on a date. Things get tangled quickly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tangled Up In Her

**Author's Note:**

> Forewarning: I haven't written fanfiction in 5 years, I'm more of a poet/nonfiction writer than a fiction writer, I don't have anyone else proofreading this, it took me months to get from my initial idea to a fully formed chapter, updates will probably be irregular, don't expect too much from me. 
> 
> Content Warning: I use the word queer a fair amount in this fic. I understand that not everyone is comfortable with it but it's a word that I've personally reclaimed and that most of the people I'm close to use in a very positive way, which seems to be somewhat of a geographical/small liberal arts school thing, since this fic is basically my utopian future all of the characters in it use it too. 
> 
> Other content warnings will be added as the fic progresses if needed. 
> 
> The quotes at the beginning of the chapters are from Emergency Contact by Andrea Gibson.

“Okay, so I take it back

She might be your type"

“Who wears leather pants AND a corset to a yarn shop?” A question very similar to the one that Laura Hollis had asked herself last week of “Who wears short shorts AND a lace crop top to a yarn store?” Most people come in wearing sweaters, some of them really cute handmade sweaters that garner many compliments from other crafters. But not this lady, she’d come in three times this month, seductively caressed all the sock weight yarn and left without buying anything. Leaving Laura to stand behind the counter and wonder what type of crafting the woman did, with thoughts like “you know what they say… really sexy women knit.”

No one actually says that, Laura is just a biased crafter. This woman, Carmilla Karnstein as Laura would come to find out, could easily be a crocheter. Laura could probably find out if she asked her. But how do you approach an incredibly gorgeous woman in a yarn shop? Specifically, how does Laura Hollis approach a beautiful woman in a yarn shop? She’s probably shouldn’t try to flirt with customers while she is working anyways. She doesn’t even know if the object of her lust is into women, or if she is single. But they were both in a yarn store that caters to the queerest segment of this city’s population. Kissing Fish Yarn and Fabric is located in the middle of the gayborhood known as Silas. It’s flanked on one side by the Zeta bar and grill and the Summer Society Coffee Shop on the other. Aside from a few elderly women who think that the labrys printed rainbow fabric would be perfect for their grandchildren’s nurseries, most of the people who come in here aren’t straight. So it wasn’t a far leap for Laura to think that, theoretically, this lady could swing her way. She really just need to girl the hell up and start a conversation.

As Laura is mustering up the courage to suggest a different hand dyed merino skein than the one that the one that the dark haired woman is holding, Perry, Laura’s good friend/employer/owner of Kissing Fish, approaches the counter with a plate of cookies. Perry has owned this shop for a little under 5 years. She had saved up for it by working as a midwife for a few years after high school, there was something odd about the birthing practices in this town she wanted something a bit more “normal”. However, the regulars at this place aren’t all that normal either. There’s the yarn scientist, LaFontaine, who has come in multiple times a week for the past year to get supplies for their crafting experiments. They have a biology themed etsy store that is doing really well, minus the few things that have spontaneously caught on fire after reaching their intended recipients. They’ve lived in this city their whole life and have known Perry since they were five years old. The two of them started crafting together, with Perr sewing elaborate quilts and crocheting gorgeous sweaters for everyone on the street while LaF crochets hyperrealistic organs and plushes complex microbes. The two are oddly perfect friends. Laura’s been kind of pushing LaF and another regular customer together for the past few months. Danny is one of the owners of the coffee shop next door, she and her group of sporty lesbian sorority girls (they have the best parts of all of the stereotypes) bought the place a few years ago after their post-college plans hadn’t panned out. Her sisters drop by often but Danny is the only one who always comes to the weekly Rainbow crafting comrades meeting. The name is a homage to the kissing rainbow trout on the store’s logo but is also a nod to the fact that the group is as much a crafting club as a grown up GSA. Most of the queer spaces in this city, as is true of most cities, are either solely support groups or solely bars/clubs. While those are important places to have, queer spaces that are themed neither around alcohol nor only queerness are severely under represented. After Laura came to college at the nearby university and subsequently came out at 18, she wanted to be around people like her all the time, she wanted to be around them in the centers made for us and in bars that cater to us but also in coffee shops and bookstores and hair salons and yarn shops. Kissing Fish may have been the first of these low-alcohol/no-alcohol queer businesses to pop up in this neighborhood but more have shown up near year every year. First it was the Summer Society’s coffee shop, then the Zeta’s bar (which had been here and queer for a few years before KF) started being a diner during the day time, Bilitis Books came after that, Switch Hitters Sporting goods opened a couple blocks away, and most recently Scissor Sisters Salon opened across the street from the shop.

So the shop is located in a pretty gay part of the city, one that seems to get gayer by the day. Which is why none of the regulars are ever surprised when they meet someone else who isn’t straight. Even Laura who didn’t know anyone else like her before she moved here for college is used to it now. She’s from a small town a few hours away and her father is… a bit overprotective. Which isn’t all bad, she got to learn Krav Maga because of it but her other hobbies were limited growing up. Hence her familiarity with craft stores of all varieties. Despite her creativity, she didn’t feel like she had the space to grow that she needed. Moving away gave her that space. She felt like she came out late in life, though as of this moment Perry hasn’t ever officially come out as anything to anyone and lots of people don’t figure themselves out until well into adulthood. Laura hasn’t even actually figured herself out yet, she’s just figured out that she loves women.

Speaking of tiny gay Laura Hollis, she’s been staring at the attractive brunette across the store for at least 15 minutes while munching on the cookies that Perry had left at the check stand. She’s covered in crumbs and Carmilla keeps glancing her way. Laura wonders if she is contemplating leaving without buying anything again. She could also be contemplating approaching the counter to talk to the adorable goofball who has checked out her ass every time she’s walked into this place. Or, as is reality, she was actually thinking about what yarn she’s going to buy. Because she has stood in front of rows and rows of the stuff 3 times without buying anything for a lot of reasons. One being money, which she has very little of. Another being the project, which she didn’t have planned out until yesterday. And the third being how indifferent she was feeling about existing at this current moment.

Laura is brushing her palms off on her gray button down and getting ready to go offer the woman some service, if you know what I mean, when the tallest of the redheads walks in. Danny waves to Laura before going to peruse the same yarn that the dark haired woman is looking at. The redhead runs her long fingers over a few skeins of purple sport weight yarn before saying in the broody woman’s general direction “This could make a nice hat.”

Carmilla looks over at Danny, glances at the yarn she’s touching and replies “I would use a heavier weight unless you want it to take forever, but you do you gingersnap.”

“It would take time, but good things do.” Danny says and steps closer to the smaller woman. Carmilla smirks, picking up on the seductive vibes that the other woman is sending out. She grabs a skein of dark green and turns to the taller woman.

“What do you think of this? It is soft isn’t it?” Carmilla asks and holds the yarn out to the redhead.

Danny reaches down and strokes the yarn and the edge of the woman’s outstretched hand. Carmilla shivers and their eyes meet. This could be something. “So soft, what are you going to make with it?” Danny asks.

“I’m making a terrarium holder, I recently got a job at Bilitis Books down the street and I thought it would be a nice gift for my new employer to hang in the back window.”

“Oh, I love Bilitis! I go there often on my breaks to browse their Greek mythology section. I work across the street at the Summer Society coffee house.”

“I suppose that means I shouldn’t ask you on a coffee date then.” Carmilla quips as she turns to go purchase the yarn.

“Dinner it is, then?” Danny asks as if they had known each other for more than 10 minutes and walks with Carmilla to the counter. Laura has listened to the entire conversation and is happy for Danny, though she can’t help but be a little disappointed that she hadn’t even gotten up the courage to talk to the woman. Her mind spirals into what ifs and coulda beens, beating herself up as she rings up Carmilla’s purchase. She stuffs a flyer for the Rainbow crafting circle into the bag as Carmilla and Danny decide on a time and a place for their first date.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think of this nonsense. Also let me know if you have a better title idea because I'm terrible at titles. I currently have 19 chapters somewhat planned out but am open to suggestions. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at floralchickencollective.tumblr.com and on twitter @denicently


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